Najala Abu Nahla talks about life in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip. There she helps children feel joy despite the war.

Najala Abu Nahla Photo: private

Najala Abu Nahla, 31 years old, he is project director for the Mayasem Cultural Center and Museum, near Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. In November he fled further south to Rafah, developed an emergency plan with Mayasem and set up a soup kitchen for internally displaced people. He also provides psychological support and organizes activities for children.

I am especially touched by a girl I care for in Rafah. I would prefer not to mention your name. She is three and a half years old. Her entire family was killed in a bombing in Khan Yunis. Another family pulled the girl alive from under the rubble and took her in. Shortly afterward they fled to Rafah with the girl. Since then they have lived here in a tent.

I go to her house every few days to bring her a toy or anything that helps her feel safe. Then I play with her a little. She sometimes asks about her mother and her sisters, with whom she used to play, and cries. I ask her how her sisters played with her so she could imitate him as much as possible.

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I want to give children the opportunity to experience joy through activities and games. But sometimes the game also becomes a way to help a psychologically wounded person get out of despair. I'm actually an artist, not a psychologist, but I have a lot of experience in art therapy, including Waldorf education. I learned, among other things, from German educators who trained us in the Gaza Strip.

I recently bought the girl a balloon. I told her that she could tell her balloon a secret, that she could tell it what bothered her the most or what scared her the most. We then inflated it and she was allowed to pop it.

I didn't ask him what he said to the balloon, it was his secret. But I heard her whisper to the balloon that she was afraid of bombs. I also go to sleep every night afraid that something will happen that night, and I pray to God that it doesn't happen.

I serve refugees. I listen to them, I try to help and provide relief. For me, this is my duty as a Palestinian and I also do it to strengthen Palestinian identity and culture. This is what gives me strength and I hope to soon be able to report on the end of the war.

Protocol: Judith Poppe